DBA in an MNC: Rs. 40000.00
Support Laptop : Rs. 50000.00
Blackberry : Rs. 25000.00
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Getting 20 DBA's to dance like maniacs in a mini-bus......PRICELESS!
Indeed there are somethings money can't buy!
Offsite? I always have (and still do) wonder, why cant companies come up with a more 'high energy', 'full of life' term for this activity. A little drama in life, never hurt, did it?
This was my first official off site at my new job, and I COMPLETELY enjoyed myself with my team of DBAs. It was indeed encouraging to see this kind of energy levels in a team, engaged in an otherwise mundane profession of Database Administration (DBA, for short).
It was being talked about for a while, and although quite excited, I was containing myself and silently following the goings on in the team. And finally last week, after a bit of deliberations, it was decided that we were going to a place called Savana Durga. Quite an interesting place to go to, unexplored as it looked.
The bus journey began with very high energy levels and it was a good opportunity to break the ice with a couple of new faces, who were until yesterday, only a bunch of email ids to me (as I was to them). And what better way to break the ice than the tried and trusted antakshari. All our team sang at the top of their lungs, and truly the icing on the cake was the active participation of our Managers. That was indeed worth appreciating. Because so far in my career I have only encountered managers who don't like to let themselves go, maintain a little distance and so on.
Ok Back to the trip! We landed at the place and this was perfect for mountain climbing (and we did have a bunch of enthusiastic climbers, these were guys whom even the sun god could not deter, from making it to the top!) I began climbing but gave up after a short while, as the sun was dehydrating me very quickly and I was not quite sure about pulling myself any further. There were a couple of others too who decided to retreat and get back down.
Initially there was this feeling that "oh, I wasted this trip and could not make the most of it" but then thanks to my manager, who insisted that we explore a trail on the ground, the day was made memorable.
The trail was quite do able initially, and we thought we might get back and get some more people to go with us. But we never knew that there were some deceptive and hidden challenges in this trail. This element of surprise is what made the trail extremely exciting. To top it all, there was all this excitement of going upto a stream of water at the bottom of the trail, which ofcourse turned out to be a damp squib. It was just a little more than a small pond of water, perhaps accumulated due to a natural depression in the landscape. But what the heck! The journey is always more exciting than the destination, most of the times. This was one of those days.
Around 2:20 pm, with the sun beating down our backs, and with abslutely no supplies of water, we began the trudge back to base. Normally, in a trek, the return journey is downhill (read: easier), but this time it was quite the opposite, we started the trek downhill, and the return was an uphill task, literally. After an hour of trekking the trail, we made it.. hungry, thirsty and completely exhausted but absolutely exhilarated. In-fact, this trek reminded me of my exciting hiking trip in the white mountains, New Hampshire (USA) {click here to read}.
Once we were back, it was lunch and then journey back. The return journey saw some real hidden talent, who just needed a little prodding, before they shook the bus down with their dance.
On the whole, it was a fantastic day, spent in high spirits with a bunch of people, who started the day as professional colleagues, but surely went home as good friends!
Looking forward to more such outings with our high energy DBA team!
Watch this space for a link with the pictures...
Support Laptop : Rs. 50000.00
Blackberry : Rs. 25000.00
.
.
.
Getting 20 DBA's to dance like maniacs in a mini-bus......PRICELESS!
Indeed there are somethings money can't buy!
Offsite? I always have (and still do) wonder, why cant companies come up with a more 'high energy', 'full of life' term for this activity. A little drama in life, never hurt, did it?
This was my first official off site at my new job, and I COMPLETELY enjoyed myself with my team of DBAs. It was indeed encouraging to see this kind of energy levels in a team, engaged in an otherwise mundane profession of Database Administration (DBA, for short).
It was being talked about for a while, and although quite excited, I was containing myself and silently following the goings on in the team. And finally last week, after a bit of deliberations, it was decided that we were going to a place called Savana Durga. Quite an interesting place to go to, unexplored as it looked.
The bus journey began with very high energy levels and it was a good opportunity to break the ice with a couple of new faces, who were until yesterday, only a bunch of email ids to me (as I was to them). And what better way to break the ice than the tried and trusted antakshari. All our team sang at the top of their lungs, and truly the icing on the cake was the active participation of our Managers. That was indeed worth appreciating. Because so far in my career I have only encountered managers who don't like to let themselves go, maintain a little distance and so on.
Ok Back to the trip! We landed at the place and this was perfect for mountain climbing (and we did have a bunch of enthusiastic climbers, these were guys whom even the sun god could not deter, from making it to the top!) I began climbing but gave up after a short while, as the sun was dehydrating me very quickly and I was not quite sure about pulling myself any further. There were a couple of others too who decided to retreat and get back down.
Initially there was this feeling that "oh, I wasted this trip and could not make the most of it" but then thanks to my manager, who insisted that we explore a trail on the ground, the day was made memorable.
The trail was quite do able initially, and we thought we might get back and get some more people to go with us. But we never knew that there were some deceptive and hidden challenges in this trail. This element of surprise is what made the trail extremely exciting. To top it all, there was all this excitement of going upto a stream of water at the bottom of the trail, which ofcourse turned out to be a damp squib. It was just a little more than a small pond of water, perhaps accumulated due to a natural depression in the landscape. But what the heck! The journey is always more exciting than the destination, most of the times. This was one of those days.
Around 2:20 pm, with the sun beating down our backs, and with abslutely no supplies of water, we began the trudge back to base. Normally, in a trek, the return journey is downhill (read: easier), but this time it was quite the opposite, we started the trek downhill, and the return was an uphill task, literally. After an hour of trekking the trail, we made it.. hungry, thirsty and completely exhausted but absolutely exhilarated. In-fact, this trek reminded me of my exciting hiking trip in the white mountains, New Hampshire (USA) {click here to read}.
Once we were back, it was lunch and then journey back. The return journey saw some real hidden talent, who just needed a little prodding, before they shook the bus down with their dance.
On the whole, it was a fantastic day, spent in high spirits with a bunch of people, who started the day as professional colleagues, but surely went home as good friends!
Looking forward to more such outings with our high energy DBA team!
Watch this space for a link with the pictures...
